Box Office Success

After more than half a year of post-production and film review, “Homeland” was finally decided to premiere in Los Angeles, the United States on July 12. After a week of release in North America, it would premiere in China on July 19.

Promotion was one of the most important factors in determining whether a movie can be successful at the box office. Basically, it can be said that marketing strategy affects the box office. In the production cost of a movie, the publicity cost should normally reach one-third of the total cost. Its importance can be seen from this ratio alone.

From the beginning, it was decided that Homeland would have two versions, the Mandarin version and the English version. As a co-production that was to be premiered in two countries, its promotion should first cover both countries. The North American promotion had been fully entrusted to 20th Century Fox, while Lu Yan Studio was mainly responsible for the domestic promotion. The marketing team began to plan a suitable marketing strategy long before the filming began.

After the film entered the post-editing stage, various promotional videos and posters appeared on the Internet one after another. They were placed in subway and bus booths in major cities and other places where advertisements could be placed. They even placed product placement ads in popular online games, striving to achieve comprehensive coverage. One month before the film was released, the promotion reached a fever pitch. The marketing team produced a total of 43 promotional videos to be played on the Internet, and 39 posters covered all cities with theaters. You could see the short film and posters of “Homeland” almost everywhere you look. In the face of huge production costs, the promotion must keep up.

“Homeland” chose the summer season, which can be said to be the golden period for movie releases. Many movies were released during the same period, including many imported blockbusters. However, “Homeland” was not afraid of challenges. It had sufficient confidence in both the quality of the film and the strength of its publicity. In addition, it had combined the 3D technology that had been quite popular in recent years, which had attracted great attention.

However, in the midst of a promising situation, a crisis quietly grew. At first, a few posts appeared on some websites, expressing annoyance at the overwhelming publicity for “Homeland”. Soon, others echoed the sentiment, from dissatisfaction with the film’s publicity to dissatisfaction with the film itself, and finally to dissatisfaction with the leading actor Lu Yan’s homosexuality. These posts were not particularly long, but they were posted at a high density. Similar posts could be found on every major portal website. Many homophobic and anti-gay people jumped out of the posts, saying that homosexuality hindered the reproduction and development of mankind, and that they would never watch movies made by homosexuals, and also called on everyone not to watch them.

Originally, such posts with obvious signs of trolls would not attract much attention. Many netizens just passed by and did not even have the interest to click on them. However, soon, some legitimate media issued a press release saying, “90% of netizens think that being a homosexual and being so high-profile is too disgusting. They said they would definitely not go to the cinema to watch “Homeland”.”

Qin Feng walked into Lu Yan’s workroom with today’s newspaper and placed it on his desk. “Take a look.”

Lu Yan picked up the newspaper and looked at the place where Qin Feng had made the crease. He smiled and said, “No one would believe such low-level slander.”

“That’s what you say, but it will have some impact.” Qin Feng said helplessly.

Lu Yan put down the newspaper and placed his fingers together on his chin. “Of course there will be an impact. I had already thought about it when I decided to come out. But isn’t this normal? Some people will stir up trouble even when there is no wind. Moreover, I now have such a big stain in the eyes of my opponents. It would be strange if they didn’t take advantage of me.”

Qin Feng asked again, “Have you ever thought about who did it?”

“Do I need to think about it? There are many movies released at the same time as “Homeland”, and many of them are big productions. The fact that someone did this shows that “Homeland” poses a great threat to them, and it also shows our success, which is a good thing.” Lu Yan said with a smile.

Qin Feng was comforted by his resolute tone and relaxed. “You really are a newborn calf that is not afraid of tigers. This is your first time investing in a movie and you are so generous. To be honest, let alone others, sometimes I wonder if you are too arrogant. It’s an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars. Are you really never worried about losing money?”

“Of course I worry, but is it useful to worry all the time? It is better to do things step by step and try to avoid bad results.”

“It’s just a personal question. You don’t have to tell me.” Qin Feng said, “Don’t you think it’s a little early to make it public now? If you wait a little longer, it might be better. Anyway, Director Su doesn’t mind…”

“But I do mind.” Lu Yan smiled, “I said I don’t like hiding, and I don’t want him to avoid me again and again. I want to walk with him in the sun. Although now is not a good time, the network is so advanced, no secret can be kept for long. Instead of waiting to be discovered and exposed by accident, it is better to take the initiative to confess now when you have the most influence. As long as you are sincere, most people will still accept it.”

Qin Feng smiled and said, “I knew you wouldn’t do anything you weren’t sure of. But when are you going to announce that Director Su is the one? Do you know that there’s a big fight going on online, with everyone speculating who the gay lover of Mr. Lu is?”

Lu Yan pursed his lips and smiled, “If everything goes well, it will be soon.”

“Okay, then how do you want to deal with this matter?” Qin Feng pointed at the newspaper.

Lu Yan thought for a moment and said, “Let’s wait and see. If the negative impact continues to expand, we can do an interview or appear on a TV show or something.”

“Okay.” Qin Feng nodded, “Then let’s stick to the original plan. Keep up with all the publicity, don’t stop.”

Lu Yan and his team decided to ignore it for the time being, but not everyone did. The subsequent developments became very interesting.

The next day, a post appeared on TY. The poster expressed his dissatisfaction with being represented for no reason and the unscrupulous media forcing public opinion. He also wrote a handwritten post, took a photo and uploaded it. The content was “Lu Yan: Homosexuality is not shameful, true love is invincible! I will always support you! TY netizen XX”. At first, there were few responses, but later more and more netizens joined in, writing handwritten support for Lu Yan and the movie “Homeland”, and simply expressed their wishes to go to the cinema to support. Later, the influence expanded further. In addition to TY, netizens from large portals such as DB and MB also wrote handwritten support. Some netizens made these handwritten posts into videos and posted them on major video websites. Finally, even the People’s Daily issued a press release to express support for the netizens.

This incident caused quite a stir. Afterwards, a netizen came out and said that it was actually a certain distribution company that was colliding with “Homeland” and hired trolls and some media to attack its rival. In fact, if it was just to smear Lu Yan, it would be fine. After all, apart from fans, most passers-by just wanted to watch the excitement. The key was that the unscrupulous media dared to make up a lie like “90% of netizens” when reporting maliciously. Netizens exploded instantly, and everyone decided to pick up a pen to express their own ideas, to show their stance, and to refuse to be represented.

This was an accidental event, but it was a rare opportunity for Lu Yan and his team.

Originally, the film was scheduled to premiere in China a week after its release in North America because they were worried that it would not have enough impact in China, so they wanted to show it overseas for a while first to give people the feeling that it was an alien film.

However, this accidental event became an opportunity. Based on this, the marketing team made an extra effort and pushed the promotion of “Homeland” to its peak. More people expressed their expectations and support for the film. The domestic schedule was adjusted to be released simultaneously with North America. The premieres were held in City B and Los Angeles one day apart.

Due to the strong publicity, the attendance rate of “Homeland” in both cities on the first day of its release was as high as 90%. The wonderful story and the dazzling 3D technology made the fans who watched it say that it was addictive. Some even watched the IMAX version after watching the 3D version, and later posted their viewing experience on Weibo and other platforms, which made those fans who did not have the IMAX version in the theaters in small and medium-sized cities feel regretful.

The first week box office in North America reached 90 million US dollars, and the first week box office in China also reached 80 million RMB. It can be said that this has created a miracle. And then, it had been the weekly champion in North America for ten weeks, and in China it had been for thirteen weeks, far exceeding other films in the same period, and even more than half of the second place.

When it was finally released, the North American box office of “Homeland” reached 630 million US dollars, and the domestic box office reached 1.3 billion RMB. The total overseas box office excluding the two places was 1.29 billion US dollars, and the global box office exceeded 2.1 billion US dollars. This did not include the income from the distribution of DVDs and peripheral products.

This was a box office myth, a miracle!

Since the release of Hometown, good news had been coming in frequently, and friends in the circle had also congratulated Lu Yan on Weibo for the box office success. Lu Yan, who had been questioned since the preparation of the film, finally breathed a sigh of relief. He proved his vision and courage with facts, and also made his fans and friends who cared about him feel relieved, and even lifted a stone to hit the feet of those who doubted him.

Next came the share of box office revenue.

According to domestic box office sharing practices, after deducting the film fund, taxes, theater chain share, and distributor share, the producer could finally get about 35% of the box office share.

In North America, the percentage was much higher, around 45 to 50 percent.

Basically, a film can break even if its global box office reaches three times its investment. The total investment of “Homeland” was 300 million US dollars, and its global box office reached 2.1 billion US dollars. It has made a lot of profit just from the box office, not to mention the income from the distribution of DVDs and peripheral products.

In short, investing in the movie “Homeland” not only brought great influence to Lu Yan Studio, but more importantly, it brought huge practical benefits.

Because it was a co-production, “Homeland” was also eligible to compete for an Oscar.